If the goal had been political, Operation Arrow and Shield could have been crowned a crushing success last night. Otzma Yehudit Chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrated the acceptance of his demands to switch to a policy of targeted assassinations, the cabinet convened for an important security discussion of which he is a part, and the threats ended completely. For a moment, it seemed that the right-wing government was returning to broadcasting business as usual – and came to Zion Redeemer.
But what is happening in the feverish minds of Ra'am members (and Zehava Galon), who yesterday accused the government of launching a political operation, did not really meet the meticulous and planned timetable of the army and the heads of the defense establishment. To his dismay, it wasn't even Ben-Gvir who led the security establishment to plan and carry out the targeted assassination of the three senior Islamic Jihad figures. He could have imposed a political coupon on this and stopped the boycott of the government and the Knesset, but the security conduct this time did not suffer from the failures of petty politics.
A surgical operation requiring complete silence in order to simultaneously capture three senior targets had to be received in a very limited circle. Netanyahu, as a perception, fears leaks in the cabinet not only in this government and not only from Ben-Gvir.
Purpose view of uniformity
Prime Minister Netanyahu has proven, and not for the first time, that in real time security considerations guide his actions – as evidenced by the united statement by the heads of the defense establishment with the prime minister and defense minister, which conveyed unity before embarking on battle. Such a front is required in every campaign, but even more so at a time when everything is considered political and Israel is divided into uniform camps of "for" and "against." The round of thanks from the chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet, the defense minister and Netanyahu was also part of the same display of purpose of uniformity internally and externally.
The bombed home in Gaza of Hamas leader Jihad Ghanem, photo: AFP
The media and political criticism leveled at the nature of the military response directed by Netanyahu and Galant after 100 rockets were fired at Sderot in broad daylight was contained because the two have been behind the preparation of the assassinations since last Tuesday. The goal was not to announce in advance the continuation of the Israeli response in Gaza, so as not to allow the targets to slip under the radar, even at the cost of sarcastic newspaper columns or a specific crisis with frustrated coalition members.
A surgical operation requiring complete silence in order to simultaneously capture three senior targets had to be received in a very limited circle. Netanyahu, as a perception, fears leaks in the cabinet not only in this government and not only from Ben-Gvir. In previous governments, too, he preferred limited security consultations, which often led to criticism of him from within his own government. Yesterday, he managed to get the support of his preferred course of action from cabinet members, who got what they wanted at first: an unusual action that makes it clear that firing dozens of rockets at an Israeli city in broad daylight cannot pass like another "routine" drizzle into the envelope.
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